Mobile wireless network protocols which are designed to support high speed data transfer are typically unsuitable for voice communications (and/or video data) (e.g., media data) because transfer of large data messages (i.e., non-media data, e.g., internet protocol (IP) datagrams) is best accomplished with long continuous transmission bursts (e.g., 1500 bytes each), while voice must use frequent short transmission bursts (e.g., 128 bytes each). Combining these two fundamentally incompatible transmission characteristics into a single wireless protocol has been a major problem for mobile wireless networks. Current protocols either waste bandwidth or incur excessive protocol overhead costs to support voice. As a result, network designers have been forced to choose between a high speed data protocol or a high quality voice protocol. A common solution to date has been to implement two separate networks to accommodate both voice and data services.
Current mobile wireless protocols fall within three categories: 1.) high speed data transfer only, 2.) high quality voice with low data transfer rates, or 3.) highly inefficient combinations of voice and data, which consume excessive bandwidth. These existing solutions use transmission slot lengths that are either too long for efficient voice service or too short for efficient transfer of data, thereby resulting in inefficient utilization of available bandwidth for combined voice and data communications. As a result, most wireless protocols do not handle voice and data equitably, but instead favor one to the disadvantage of the other.
As such, there is a need for an improved method for combining voice and data communications.